| "I don’t have any illusions that people are coming in there to see me, I just try and keep the people that are there interested in seeing me. My job there is to sell booze, not to sell me."
And that in a nutshell is what it takes to be a professional musician in Calgary. Randy Hutchings should know – he’s been doing just that for years now.
"It all depends on what you want. I don’t drive a car. I don’t own a home…. But I don’t need a whole lot, as long as my bills are paid and I can go out and have a beer with my friends when I want to, then that’s all I care about."
But even before he began performing music for a living, Hutchings had always been working in the music industry in some capacity – whether working at a record store, for Polygram Records, or as Great Big Sea’s booking agent.
"Working in the music business is all I’ve ever done…" explains Hutchings. "I don’t have any aspirations of becoming a rock star or selling a million records…. I just want to have a sustainable career, putting out a record every year or two. That’s all I want."
It’s that sort of realism and down-to-earth charm that has led Hutchings to develop his self-described "pop-Americana" songs to the point that he has earned residencies at busy pubs such as The Tropicana and Molly Malone’s, as well as the privilege of having some heavy Calgary musicians in his live band, such as Ross Watson on bass, Brooker Buckingham on pedal steel and guitar, and Adam Esposito on drums.
Hutchings didn’t settle either when it came time to record his debut album Atlantic Avenue (out on June 20). And as luck would have it, his first choice for a producer (Lorrie Matheson) happened to live in town.
"I had heard Dime at a Time and I went into Hot Wax (where Matheson works) one day with a bunch of demos that I had and I said, ‘Would you listen to these because I want you to produce my CD.’"
Matheson was an obvious choice, sharing Hutchings’ Costello-meets-Jayhawks-like sound in his own music, as well as having proved to be an adventurous engineer/producer on albums such as The Bent Spoon Trio record and Melodies from the Outskirts by Jay Crocker.
Matheson pulled out more of his A-game for Atlantic Avenue from the well- placed, multi-layered arrangements (played almost entirely by Matheson and Hutchings), to the unexpected moments that pop up here and there – for instance – the abrasive sound of an electric guitar being plugged in just before a solo, or the Wilco-influenced keyboards –– which make for the most memorable parts of the album.
"He’s not afraid to try whacking things in a pop context that you would think wouldn’t work," says Hutchings of Matheson’s studio prowess, "(but) when you hear it back later, you say ‘Wow, that was a good idea.’"
Hutchings’ CD release party for Atlantic Avenue is Friday, June 23 at The Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre, with guest Zoe Bentley. |
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